Los Siete de la Raza

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Los Siete de la Raza was the label given to seven Mission District San Francisco California young men, approached by two plainclothes policemen while moving a stereo or TV into a house at 429-433 Alvarado street on May 1, 1969 at around 10:30 a.m. The altercation resulted in one officer dead from a gunshot wound. When police descended on the crime scene, they entered the house and fired automatic rifles into the second story ceiling in the assumption the suspects were hiding in the attic, after which they flooded the building with tear gas as a helicopter hovered overhead; they sent a fire truck ladder up to the roof to facilitate the search while officer Brodnik's corpse lay untended on the sidewalk (local press reports).

In Santa Cruz, seven youths were arrested for murder of SFPD undercover officer Joe Brodnik and attempted murder of partner Paul McGoran, and burglary. They were defended by the activist lawyers Charles Garry and Richard Hodge, lauded by left entities like Ramparts Magazine. The young latinos included four Salvadorans, one Nicaraguan, and one Honduran, some of whom had been involved in the youth group, the Mission Rebels (founded in 1965), and later in pan-Latino organizations such as COBRA (Confederation of Brown Race for Action) at the College of San Mateo, and the Brown Berets.

The trial began in late June of 1970. Officer McGoran testified that they approached the youths and lined them up, then he struck one in the face and was jumped by "more than one assailant". The last thing he remembered hearing was Brodnik shouting, "look out Paul, he's got your gun". The defense said McGoran pulled his gun and shot Brodnik in the struggle and brought forth witnesses to testify to his (and Brodnik's) excessive use of force in previous incidents. McGoran denied ever having pulled out his gun. After a trial that lasted a year and a half, the seven, (Gary Lescallett, Daniel Melendez, Jose Rios, Rudolpho Martinez, Jose Martinez, Danillo Melendez, Mario Lopez), were acquitted.

This mass arrest and trial became a seminal event in the awakening of consciousness for political latinos in the San Francisco Bay area. The “Los Siete” Defense Committee was housed near 24th and South Van Ness. The Defense Committee raised support for the seven Mission District youths accused of shooting officer Brodnik and found assistance from the Black Panther Party. The La Raza Information Center began operating in the summer of 1970 in the vacant storefront next to “Los Siete.” The latter was running many programs, including Centro de Salud, a free breakfast program, a community newspaper, and the main program, the “Los Siete” Defense Committee.

[edit] See also

• Chicano
• Día de la Raza (Columbus Day)
• Ethnicity (United States Census)
• La Raza Cosmica
• Latino
• Hispanic
• National Council of La Raza

[edit] References

• Heins, Marjorie. Strictly Ghetto Property: The Story of Los Siete de la Raza (Berkeley: Ramparts, 1972).
• Jason Ferreira, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley Venceremos!: Los Siete de La Raza and Third World Radicalism in San Francisco, 1969-1975

[edit] Links

[[1] NY Times

[[2]] Los Siete de La Raza film